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Pieces of music that digital can't get right

Ok I have a litmus test for digital when ever I have the rare option of upgrading my digital front end. Its tough on digital. Brutally tortuous and unforgiving. Digital proponents have a difficult time accepting these sonic tests. 
1. Ok here is the first one. On the opening of America's "Ventura Highway" the opening dueling guitars are ambient and bounce off each channel very pleasantly in the analog domain. In the digital domain the channels are totally separate and too clean and sterile lifeless sounding. They are  not talking to each other It was like this with ny Marantz 8005 but the SA-10 gets halfway there.
2. In the opening of "I Feel Fine" by the Beatles the electric guitar sounds alive with ambiance and decay. The Digital is clean and lifeless.
 Ok am I right with these observation?. I have a pretty good SACD player in SA-10. Its no slouch. Do the mega expensive super smart and accurate DACs get my two above mentioned  passages right? Or are we hearing colored vinyl artifacts. Well if we are I like the record better!
128x128blueranger
captaintripps's avatar
captaintripps
1 posts
 
America's "Ventura Highway"  on my SACD  is superb and I play via Marantz 8802a through a  L.K.S dac 

rick847
8 posts
 
I've always though two recordings sounded much better in analogue : Frank Zappa's Hot Rats and Harris's  3rd. I can't tell the difference with a lot of recordings but then again I'm just a sub-audiophile.
jhills
612 posts
 
Even though I enjoy the convenience of digital, I most love my analogue.
Analog, wither tape or LP, for better or worse, is the product of - Tit for Tat (for every action an equal and opposite reaction - from the performance to the master recording. Along with a bit of noise, there is a sense of ambiance and life that digital just doesn’t quite capture.
But then, who am I to say - I still prefer the images captured from an old Hasselblad 8x10 to any digital camera on the market...Jim

falconquest's avatar
falconquest
1,108 posts
 
I was at a friends home to help him move in a new set of speakers. He has a very nice system and thought he would impress me by playing a 180 grain vinyl pressing of Van Morrison's "No Guru". As soon as the stylus hit the surface, there it was, that unmistakable background rumble and snap, crackle, pop. I have the same recording on CD which I'll take any day. The quality of the recording also plays a major role in sound quality.  
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,826 posts
 
@falconquest Your friend might benefit from a higher quality phono amplifier.  High quality units have enough dynamic headroom that the pops and clicks present on some vinyl are minimized.
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